Xbox 360's Death Rate is 54.2%

[Jezzascmezza]

A few people I know have had the red ring, actually, about half the people I know to have 360's have got it. But apparently the 360's manufactured around late 2007 and onwards are much more reliable.

 

[sneak_copter]

Hmm... None of my 360's have ever broke. Neither has my PS3. My Wii did break, twice.
Wierd.

 

[chapmanite]

got a premium a couple of years ago which died of this, took it back to retailer and got a free elite plus it only took about 45 minutes, better than sending it off to microsoft for 5 weeks and getting a premium back. And those who say pc is better it depends what type with the best costing in excess of £1500 for the whole package monitor and pc all in, why spend that when you can spend less on something with much the same graphics and just as good gameplay, sure they may break but at least it doesn't cost 1500 just to start with.

 

[chapmanite]

Still, despite the high failure rate, and despite Microsoft having the "worst" customer service of the big three, the Xbox 360 somehow maintains strong brand loyalty - only 3.8% of 360 owners surveyed said they'd never buy an Xbox 360 again. I guess we gamers are a forgiving bunch

Imagine if you never went back to any McDonalds because one you were at messed up your order once.

Honestly, if you get the RROD, it's most likely your own fault. I only have one friend who's Xbox has ever died on him and he is the only person I know who lays it down long ways. [http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/10/xbox360arcadegallerymain.jpg] When you do that, it's more likely to overheat for obvious reasons. Also, most people who own Xbox's are young and normally young people don't know how to take care of electronics very well. That's just my theory, though.

Don't make excuses for Microsoft.

Before the 360 you never got this crap with other consoles.

Me and my brother have owned nearly every console made since the SNES and they all work beautifully still, even our old Xbox runs fine and we played that thing to death with Halo 2.

But my brothers 360 got an E74 6 months back and he looked after that console just as well as all the others.

I guarantee that there a lot of other people who have a similar story.

So trying to blame the problems of a terribly made piece of hardware on the user is bullshit and you know it.

You're telling people not to blame users who took one look at the console and thought "man I totally orient it in a way so it blocks half the vents!"

Hell my friend killed his 360 by laying it down sideways and then putting a PS2 on top of it, effectively blocking off most of its ventilation (this is the same problem that eventually befalls most laptops and computers with balky fans, for comparison, so don't ever say the 360 pioneered heat death). Am I supposed to blame Microsoft for that? They didn't tell him to do that. Hell I even learned from his mistake by, when I had to lay my own 360 on its side, placing some books under it that left the vents open. It's simple common sense. And my 360 replacement is one from before the Jasper architecture, and it has been kicked, moved about, dropped, oriented in both long and short way, and it still keeps on ticking.

Nobody's denying outright that some of the problems aren't because Microsoft effed up in construction, but at the same time some of these problems are because of user negligence. It happens with any piece of technology...unless that technology is made by Nintendo because somehow they've discovered how to make near-indestructible consoles since the 1980s.

I never go to a mcdonalds anyway, it tastes like horse shit compared to homemade burgers, some mince, chilli, onion, salt and pepper and a blender is all you need to make them shape them with your hands and cook on a stove until ready.easy as pie, well actually pie is slightly more tricky but, you get the point

 

[yankeefan19]

I've had my X-Box for 2-3 years and the only problem was my fault anyway.

 

[Rachmaninov]

You're telling people not to blame users who took one look at the console and thought "man I totally orient it in a way so it blocks half the vents!"

Hell my friend killed his 360 by laying it down sideways and then putting a PS2 on top of it, effectively blocking off most of its ventilation (this is the same problem that eventually befalls most laptops and computers with balky fans, for comparison, so don't ever say the 360 pioneered heat death). Am I supposed to blame Microsoft for that? They didn't tell him to do that. Hell I even learned from his mistake by, when I had to lay my own 360 on its side, placing some books under it that left the vents open. It's simple common sense. And my 360 replacement is one from before the Jasper architecture, and it has been kicked, moved about, dropped, oriented in both long and short way, and it still keeps on ticking.

Nobody's denying outright that some of the problems aren't because Microsoft effed up in construction, but at the same time some of these problems are because of user negligence. It happens with any piece of technology...unless that technology is made by Nintendo because somehow they've discovered how to make near-indestructible consoles since the 1980s.

I use my Xbox on it's side. Just like the manual says I can. Just like Micro$oft said I can. It's sold to be orientated horizontally or vertically at the users choice. If it was laying it on it's side that made it die, don't you think the stress testing should've discovered that? If the one that was on it's side died faster than the vertical one, do you really think they said "Oh well, let's still pretend it's okay to use horizontally"?

Why is the 360 the only piece of equipment in the house, that if I follow the manual to the letter, I'm still "neglecting" it?

Bad design is bad design, no matter how hard to try to cover it up. The other consoles don't have this issue, the PS3 can be run orientated any which way you like, and it bricks less.

EDIT: The welcome video when you first start your 360 actually shows a 360 being used in both orientations. I guess even Micro$oft fall short on your "correct maintenance methods" and they built it.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Still, despite the high failure rate, and despite Microsoft having the "worst" customer service of the big three, the Xbox 360 somehow maintains strong brand loyalty - only 3.8% of 360 owners surveyed said they'd never buy an Xbox 360 again. I guess we gamers are a forgiving bunch

Imagine if you never went back to any McDonalds because one you were at messed up your order once.

Honestly, if you get the RROD, it's most likely your own fault. I only have one friend who's Xbox has ever died on him and he is the only person I know who lays it down long ways. [http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/10/xbox360arcadegallerymain.jpg] When you do that, it's more likely to overheat for obvious reasons. Also, most people who own Xbox's are young and normally young people don't know how to take care of electronics very well. That's just my theory, though.

Don't make excuses for Microsoft.

Before the 360 you never got this crap with other consoles.

Me and my brother have owned nearly every console made since the SNES and they all work beautifully still, even our old Xbox runs fine and we played that thing to death with Halo 2.

But my brothers 360 got an E74 6 months back and he looked after that console just as well as all the others.

I guarantee that there a lot of other people who have a similar story.

So trying to blame the problems of a terribly made piece of hardware on the user is bullshit and you know it.

You're telling people not to blame users who took one look at the console and thought "man I totally orient it in a way so it blocks half the vents!"

Hell my friend killed his 360 by laying it down sideways and then putting a PS2 on top of it, effectively blocking off most of its ventilation (this is the same problem that eventually befalls most laptops and computers with balky fans, for comparison, so don't ever say the 360 pioneered heat death). Am I supposed to blame Microsoft for that? They didn't tell him to do that. Hell I even learned from his mistake by, when I had to lay my own 360 on its side, placing some books under it that left the vents open. It's simple common sense. And my 360 replacement is one from before the Jasper architecture, and it has been kicked, moved about, dropped, oriented in both long and short way, and it still keeps on ticking.

Nobody's denying outright that some of the problems aren't because Microsoft effed up in construction, but at the same time some of these problems are because of user negligence. It happens with any piece of technology...unless that technology is made by Nintendo because somehow they've discovered how to make near-indestructible consoles since the 1980s.

You would have a good argument if it wasn't for the fact the Xbox 360 has rubber feet on one of its sides suggesting that the console was supposed to be designed to lay flat as well as be stood up. Also Microsfot mentions no where in the manual to never lie the console flat.

So its still Microsofts fault, if they knew that laying it flat would cause it to overheat so much than they would of never put rubber feet on it for that purpose and would have had a warning in the manual about it.

Even then I don't buy the line that having it in standing position would stop the overheating as my brothers one was kept in that position and I've yet to see an official statement from Microsoft that this the correct way to position your console.

 

[The Austin]

He-he. My 3 year old xbox is still running strong.

Oh man are you ever going to eat those words soon enough. Your xbox dies not long from now. Better save up some cash...

Have you ever considered that *maybe* just *maybe* that I could be a member of the 46.8% of owners who's console doesnt die?

 

[dalek sec]

This is pretty much the main reason why I'm not getting a Xbox360, pure and simple.

 

[Rachmaninov]

He-he. My 3 year old xbox is still running strong.

Oh man are you ever going to eat those words soon enough. Your xbox dies not long from now. Better save up some cash...

Have you ever considered that *maybe* just *maybe* that I could be a member of the 46.8% of owners who's console doesnt diehasn't died yet?

Sorry to rain on your parade, but they all die eventually. All electrical equipment eventually wears out. And 360s faster than others.

 

[Bigeyez]

Meh misleading poll is misleading. Newer 360's are known to not suffer from near as many problems.
I wouldnt be surprised if 50% is really the failure rate of the older skus. Back near launch people were saying failures due to RRoD were about 1/3 of all 360's. That combined with other types of failures (cd drives, etc.) and 50% failure rate really seems possible.

Again though thats older skus. So all the people in this thread saying "oh thats why I'm not buying a 360" are worrying over whats really a minimal problem now. I'd imgaine the failure rate for the brand new models is something more normal like say 10%. But then again thats just going off of what M$ says and even they haven't put out any real numbers on how much the newer models break down.

 

[The Austin]

He-he. My 3 year old xbox is still running strong.

Oh man are you ever going to eat those words soon enough. Your xbox dies not long from now. Better save up some cash...

Have you ever considered that *maybe* just *maybe* that I could be a member of the 46.8% of owners who's console doesnt diehasn't died yet?

Sorry to rain on your parade, but they all die eventually. All electrical equipment eventually wears out. And 360s faster than others.

The only reason electronics die, is because we accept it as an inevitibility.

 

[Rachmaninov]

Meh misleading poll is misleading. Newer 360's are known to not suffer from near as many problems.
I wouldnt be surprised if 50% is really the failure rate of the older skus. Back near launch people were saying failures due to RRoD were about 1/3 of all 360's. That combined with other types of failures (cd drives, etc.) and 50% failure rate really seems possible.

Again though thats older skus. So all the people in this thread saying "oh thats why I'm not buying a 360" are worrying over whats really a minimal problem now. I'd imgaine the failure rate for the brand new models is something more normal like say 10%. But then again thats just going off of what M$ says and even they haven't put out any real numbers on how much the newer models break down.

I had a new model Elite. It died.

The E74 is the new RRoD, hence why Micro$oft have more recently added the E74 to their extended warranty.

The new models may be hardier than the old, but the failure rate is still unacceptable. And are you implying that, just because the new models might break less, that makes the fact that so many have broken before alright?

 

[Bigeyez]

Meh misleading poll is misleading. Newer 360's are known to not suffer from near as many problems.
I wouldnt be surprised if 50% is really the failure rate of the older skus. Back near launch people were saying failures due to RRoD were about 1/3 of all 360's. That combined with other types of failures (cd drives, etc.) and 50% failure rate really seems possible.

Again though thats older skus. So all the people in this thread saying "oh thats why I'm not buying a 360" are worrying over whats really a minimal problem now. I'd imgaine the failure rate for the brand new models is something more normal like say 10%. But then again thats just going off of what M$ says and even they haven't put out any real numbers on how much the newer models break down.

I had a new model Elite. It died.

The E74 is the new RRoD, hence why Micro$oft have more recently added the E74 to their extended warranty.

The new models may be hardier than the old, but the failure rate is still unacceptable. And are you implying that, just because the new models might break less, that makes the fact that so many have broken before alright?

No. I'm simply saying that they do in fact fail less nowadays. Thats it. I'm not defending M$. They tried to skip cornors on production and fucked up. Just pointing out that the newer models do fail less, probably a lot less then 50%. Even a 10% failure rate is pretty bad for a company thats had years to fix the issues but 10% is far off from 50%. And thats just me pulling 10% out of the air because for all I know the newer models could still have failure rates higher then that.

 

[NeedAUserName]

I won't lie, thats dampened my thoughts about getting an xBox 360, although still might.

 

[CaptainCrunch]

Electronics have always been this way, regardless of their purpose. VCRs, DVD players, microwaves, televisions of various types, and what have you all suffer from one "defect" or another. It doesn't always mean poor design. People have a tendency to use their electronic devices in less than ideal circumstances, that often cause device failure.

I don't mean putting metal in the microwave, or cottage cheese in your VCR. What I mean is that electronics need to breathe, and people have a tendency to make them as hidden as possible to save space, or because they don't like the design of the box. Look at entertainment center cabinets - many feature some type of door for your DVD player, XBox, and so on to hide behind. Generally, there is only a hole big enough for cables in the back. This effectively minimizes airflow, while simultaneously breeding a dusty environment that doesn't get cleaned very often (since you can't see the dust).

That said, I rather doubt that the 54.2% claim is completely caused by faulty design. This is not to say that there aren't design-related failures, but rather that the design-related failures don't account for much of the total reported failures. It's the end-user that makes the margin of failure increase.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Still, despite the high failure rate, and despite Microsoft having the "worst" customer service of the big three, the Xbox 360 somehow maintains strong brand loyalty - only 3.8% of 360 owners surveyed said they'd never buy an Xbox 360 again. I guess we gamers are a forgiving bunch

Imagine if you never went back to any McDonalds because one you were at messed up your order once.

Honestly, if you get the RROD, it's most likely your own fault. I only have one friend who's Xbox has ever died on him and he is the only person I know who lays it down long ways. [http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/10/xbox360arcadegallerymain.jpg] When you do that, it's more likely to overheat for obvious reasons. Also, most people who own Xbox's are young and normally young people don't know how to take care of electronics very well. That's just my theory, though.

Don't make excuses for Microsoft.

Before the 360 you never got this crap with other consoles.

Me and my brother have owned nearly every console made since the SNES and they all work beautifully still, even our old Xbox runs fine and we played that thing to death with Halo 2.

But my brothers 360 got an E74 6 months back and he looked after that console just as well as all the others.

I guarantee that there a lot of other people who have a similar story.

So trying to blame the problems of a terribly made piece of hardware on the user is bullshit and you know it.

You're telling people not to blame users who took one look at the console and thought "man I totally orient it in a way so it blocks half the vents!"

Hell my friend killed his 360 by laying it down sideways and then putting a PS2 on top of it, effectively blocking off most of its ventilation (this is the same problem that eventually befalls most laptops and computers with balky fans, for comparison, so don't ever say the 360 pioneered heat death). Am I supposed to blame Microsoft for that? They didn't tell him to do that. Hell I even learned from his mistake by, when I had to lay my own 360 on its side, placing some books under it that left the vents open. It's simple common sense. And my 360 replacement is one from before the Jasper architecture, and it has been kicked, moved about, dropped, oriented in both long and short way, and it still keeps on ticking.

Nobody's denying outright that some of the problems aren't because Microsoft effed up in construction, but at the same time some of these problems are because of user negligence. It happens with any piece of technology...unless that technology is made by Nintendo because somehow they've discovered how to make near-indestructible consoles since the 1980s.

So it's not MS's fault that this number is so high?
So should the poll instead say that 54% of Xbox owners are pants on head retarded or that the instruction manual is wrong for 54% of the 360s. How would you spin this if you worked in MS's marketing department because right now 360 owners (well... the ones who are on their 5th machine) just look like a bunch of suckers?

Frankly, between the closing of LikSang, the moronic claims of Sony execs & marketing, and the launch price, I thought for sure I would be getting a 360 this generation. What drove me away was the rrod and the fact that after getting everything I wanted for the 360 it actually would cost a little more than my ps3; mind you I didn't buy the ps3 at launch price.

As much as I hate Sony leadership, I would've hated MS so much more if I bought a 360 and it bricked on me while I was in the middle of Fallout 3 or Saints Row 2.

I only hope that their scheme (skimping on R&D to get the machine on the shelves a year before the competition) didn't work or the consoles of next generation are going to be disasters. I'm sure the other companies have noticed that gamers are suckers who are easily parted with their money when something new and exclusive is dangled in front of them and now I'm afraid we're all screwed.

 

[Proteus214]

Well, I guess I know which console I will be investing in.

 

[Rachmaninov]

Electronics have always been this way, regardless of their purpose. VCRs, DVD players, microwaves, televisions of various types, and what have you all suffer from one "defect" or another. It doesn't always mean poor design. People have a tendency to use their electronic devices in less than ideal circumstances, that often cause device failure.

That said, I rather doubt that the 54.2% claim is completely caused by faulty design. This is not to say that there aren't design-related failures, but rather that the design-related failures don't account for much of the total reported failures. It's the end-user that makes the margin of failure increase.

The problem with user error vs design fault is; quite often, the design faults cause the product to be broken by the user with far greater ease than they should.

I don't deny that it's the user who breaks the 360. But it's only because it is so easy to break, due to poor design. Xbox 360s won't be the only console which gets secreted into a tiny slot just big enough for the console and dust, but they're still the only console with anything approaching a 54.2% death rate.

If this poll is a fair cross-section, which I'm assuming it is, a roughly equal number of that 5000 will stick their Wii/PS3 in an equally tiny cubbyhole, and yet those don't even fail half as much. Not even combined.

Micro$oft should have some insight into how their product will be used, and design accordingly. I seriously doubt they assumed that every Xbox 360 user would live in a perfectly dust-free, temperature controlled lab, where the console could be suspended to allow all the vents maximum airflow, so why do I need to reproduce that environment in my house, to keep my 360 from breaking?

 

[Fraught]

It's only 5000 people out of, like, ~35 million?
The coincidence that they, by accident, just surveyed the ones that had RRoDs is a very, very high one. I had my Xbox 360 for ~1,5 years, and nothing happened.

Then I bought a PS3, and it broke, so I had to get a new one from guarantee. Does that mean that the Xbox 360 has a 0% fail rate, and a 100% (for me)? No.